Ancients
by Honeyfish
Summary: Grace learns something new about monsters.


_What what what are you doing don't you dare tell me there's no option for Grace on the character menu. And no Daniel Wales either are you kidding me? They're only major characters, goodness 8|_

_-Nir_

I'm watching him now, that giant of steel and canvas. Doctor Lamb's given me a nice little setup. Lets me browse the security feeds at my leisure, and I've been watching him as he goes about, cutting down everyone that so much as looks at him sideways. Knowing he was coming, watching him as he made his way down that maze of closed circuits, gave me a lot of time to prepare myself. I knew I was going to die soon as he stepped through my door. I had no problem with that. It's been a long time, and I think I've been as good a person as I could be considering everything's that gotten me where I am today, cowering in a tiny room while a monster tears through my belongings.

Finally he's here, practically within spitting distance. I know he's looking for me. Takes him a little while. He sticks his head in the closet, pushes my old broken vanity away from the wall, even checks under the bed. There's something strangely innocent about the clumsy way he moves, like a child trying to find a missing toy, but I know he's no child. He's not even human under that ugly suit.

He pauses by the bed. Picks up the lumpy little teddy bear I bought Eleanor for her birthday the last year I had her. Stares at it, or at least I think that's what he's doing. Might not even be a face under there anymore. Eventually he lowers himself onto the bed. It groans beneath him in complaint. His back is to me, not that I could've seen his expression behind that mask, and he just sits there with his big old shoulders hunched up and I begin to wonder if he's forgotten what he came here to do.

It's up to me, then. I take the key from the table and stand. My knees don't much appreciate the action, but they can just keep quiet and wait. If they're lucky, they won't have to carry me much longer. The door slides back and I step out, brushing aside a few dresses I'm sure I'll never wear again. He's there, the giant, huge as I remember that day when I first learned to hate him. He doesn't turn around even though there's no way he could've missed me clattering around with my cane.

"Well?"

That gets his attention. He shifts a little to the side, turning just enough that I can see the yellow glow from that single eye. Must be hard to see in that thing. Poor baby.

"This is what you want, isn't it?" I pull the key from my pocket and toss it onto the bed beside him. He looks at it for a moment, still clutching that bear in his massive fingers like it's a lifeline. Something about him is off. He's sitting too stiffly. Trembling. Monsters don't tremble. Then he makes a hollow choking noise and I realize he's been crying. Imagine! 300 lbs of steel and muscle, a beast that could crush the entire city in its fist, and he's crying like a damn baby.

He'll forgive me if I'm not too sympathetic to his plight. "Lost her, didn't you?"

He turns away, staring at the floor, resting the doll in his lap. It's like all the fire's gone out of him. A match someone dropped in the ocean. His shoulders sag. His breathing is slow and laborious. He seems so old. Older than me, for sure. Something that should've been sleeping in the earth a long time ago.

"You gonna just sit there and blubber, or are you gonna do something?" He won't even look at me. I pick the key back up and chuck it at his helmet. It bounces off the metal and falls to the floor. "This is how it's gonna be, huh? An old lady that can't defend herself, and a monster that won't even stand up…" Sure doesn't match up with what Sofia said, though. Expect that thing to come in, guns blazing, and I get to die for the Family like so many others. Just like I wanted. But there's no way this brokenhearted thing is going to kill me. I can see that much.

"Go on…" I sigh and reach out to pat him on one of those big metal tanks he's got sitting on his back. Seemed like the right thing to do, comforting a fellow living being. "Go find that girl. This is between you and Doctor Lamb, not me, and you're stinkin' up my room. Big ape…" I can't manage the venom anymore, though. It's all gone now. He stands. The bed gives a relieved wheeze as his weight vanishes. He kneels to pick the key up, standing briefly beside me. It doesn't occur to me that one swing of that arm could've taken my head off until later, when he's long gone, off to fight for a child that was never supposed to be his. Eleanor's a big girl now, though. I'm sure she'll do what's right. Me, I'm still not sure who to believe. Sofia said he was a monster, but I've never seen a monster cry over his little girl's doll.


End file.
